If this sounds gross to you, let me assure you it really isn't.  Although the muskrat is a rodent, it is not a rat.  Eating muskrat is like eating rabbit or squirrel.  It's not common in most North American cultures today, but muskrat is reported to be very tasty.

(If you are still grossed out, go to the Everything Muskrat Home Page and pick a different category.)

An article in the May 19, 1997 issue of U.S. News, "No more simmered porcupine", tells why "Muskrat, with creamed celery" will probably no longer appear in The Joy of Cooking cookbook.

Ingredients (but not quantities) for Boiled Muskrat are given by "Marsh Rabbit" on Avenging Aardvark's Aerie: Dining Room.  The page credits Washington Times Weekly, March 25, 1996.  From Avenging Aardvark's Aerie (Ross Pavlac's WWW Home Page).

Braised Muskrat by Louis Campbell comes from The Axe-Woodsman Bacon-Grease Bear-Paw Cookbook off of Wick's Homepage.

Fred's Muskrat from USENET Cookbook Index - Non Metric hosted by Department of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University of Wales.  Fred's recipe is also available at the following url's:  Recipe for muskrat-1, USENET Cookbook - Muskrat-1, and Recipe for "muskrat-1".

Fried Muskrat and Gravy is on Buckskinner Cookbook from Coon 'n Crockett Muzzleloaders.

Muskrat Soup from Low Carb Cookbook: Browsable Index, Low Carb Bookstore.

Oven Muskrat appears on arts, strange recipes, genealogy.

Smothered Muskrat and Onions from Bert Christensen's Cyberspace Home and Recipe: Meat, Canadian Smothered Muskrat and Onions from Chef2Chef.net.  (Both credit The Northern Cookbook edited by Eleanor A. Ellis, from the Ministry of Indian Affairs, Ottawa, Canada.)

Smothered Muskrat and Onions from RecipeSource.  (Credits The Northern Cookbook, Ministry of Supply and services, Canada.)

Bert Christensen's Cyberspace Home also has a page off of Weird & Different Recipes, Household Hints From The Northern Cookbook.  It includes Steamed Muskrat Legs, Stuffed Muskrat, and Muskrat Tails in an excerpt from Chapter XI, "Pointers from Pioneers" from The Northern Cookbook edited by Eleanor A. Ellis.

Wild Game Recipes presents Smothered Muskrat and Onions, Fried Muskrat, Muskrat Meatloaf, and Baked Stuffed Muskrat with Carrots.  It also has an Information page describing the meat and providing suggestions for improving the flavor of it.  From North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

Family - Eating Nature - Mixed Game Animals offers up Muskrat Casserole. and Muskrat Stew. From Neartica.com.

Stewed Muskrat is given on Unusual Meals.  From February 23 , 2002 - Issue 55 of Canku Ota (Many Paths): An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America.

National Firefighters Recipe Book Accolades implies that the book includes a recipe for Fried Muskrat; from All Hands Publications.

Muskrat Stew is included in the cookbook Cookin', Carvin', and Scarfin', according to The Cookbook Closest To My Heart (7), from Simple Cooking.

Muskrat is included in the cookbook Easy Game Cookery, by Phyllis Hobson, offered by DansGardenShop.com.

Muskrat is included in Native Indian Wild Game, Fish & Wild Foods Cookbook: Recipes from North American Native Cooks edited by David Hunt.  See Cultural and Ethnic Food and Nutrition Education Materials: A Resource List for Educators from Food and Nutrition Information Center, National Agricultural Library, US Department of Agriculture.

"J'ai goûté du rat musqué" ("I Have Tasted Muskrat") by Cyril de l'Epine tells (in French) of a first encounter with Muskrat, cooked in a sauce made with beer and onions.  From MokaSofa:Solutions nettement féminines (MochaSofa: Definitely feminine solutions), May 2001

One installment of the television program Extreme Cuisine on the Food Network featured "Muskrat Man".  See "Cooking on TV", October 12, 2000, The Detroit News.

And if you have a hankering for muskrat but you don't want to cook it yourself ...

Perhaps you'd like to attend an annual "Mushrat Feast", as described in "Muskrat Feast a Celebration of History", an Associated Press article in the Detroit Free Press, February 15, 1998.

A few Bay City, Michigan, residents have banded together as the Muskrat Club.  They like to eat muskrat.  See Bay City club helps community, shares muskrat meals, The Detroit News, December 14, 2000.

An Associated Press article "Lite-Eating Muskrat", February 12, 1999, by JIM SUHR, reports on an annual boiled muskrat dinner of Algonquin Club of Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.  On web page Animalnet Feb. 12, 1999, from Animalnet Archives, Food Safety Network, Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario.

"Marsh Rabbit" Avenging Aardvark's Aerie: Dining Room notes that there is an annual muskrat and turkey dinner held in Bivalve, Maryland.  The page credits Washington Times Weekly, March 25, 1996.  From Avenging Aardvark's Aerie (Ross Pavlac's WWW Home Page).